from Verse One Hundred FourA flood does not last more than three days, a storm does not last more than a day, ending in a while.~ Wen-tzu: Understanding the Mysteries ~
This passage sounds reminiscent of verses covered in the Tao Te Ching and Hua Hu Ching. It informs us that, no matter how well or poorly things are going, our circumstances are bound to change since change is the constant of the universe.
More often than not, I think most people (me included) think about this message when things aren't going so well. We get depressed and/or frustrated over a lack of success and someone will say to us, "Don't worry. Things will be better in time." We hope that they are right, but we sometimes have a hard time believing it.
But it happens just as often when things are running smoothly. Sometimes we get to the point in which we expect smooth sailing for the rest of our days and are flummoxed when the tide turns the other direction!
Our lives are and will continue to be punctuated by ups and downs, highs and lows, bright days and dark nights. The wind will blow strongly from one direction and then, in time, it will blow as strongly from the other direction. We simply need to remember that the wind will never be constant.
It's how we deal with the changing winds that measures the kind of person we are and will become.
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
More often than not, I think most people (me included) think about this message when things aren't going so well. We get depressed and/or frustrated over a lack of success and someone will say to us, "Don't worry. Things will be better in time." We hope that they are right, but we sometimes have a hard time believing it.
But it happens just as often when things are running smoothly. Sometimes we get to the point in which we expect smooth sailing for the rest of our days and are flummoxed when the tide turns the other direction!
Our lives are and will continue to be punctuated by ups and downs, highs and lows, bright days and dark nights. The wind will blow strongly from one direction and then, in time, it will blow as strongly from the other direction. We simply need to remember that the wind will never be constant.
It's how we deal with the changing winds that measures the kind of person we are and will become.
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
The mistake often made is the belief that if things are "bad" they will get better: or when things are "good" then this too shall pass...What must change is not our circumstances but our relationship towards our circumstances.
ReplyDeleteVery well said!!!
ReplyDeleteWell the wisdom in the passage is great, a nice extension on the shorter "And this too shall pass".
ReplyDeleteI like the addition by Tao1776 too.
Subjective time dilation plays a major part, for us mortals.
ReplyDeleteWhen you, yourself, are in the middle of a disaster, or a huge storm at sea, that "only a day" may take on the significance of a lifetime.
Having barely survived a hurricane, and several other major storms at sea while single-handing a trimaran, I speak with some authority on this :)
Gordon Lightfoot said it well in his "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald":
"Does anyone know where the love of God goes,
when the waves turn the minutes to hours...
The searchers all say, they'd have made Whitefish Bay,
If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her."
Ooohhh, even now it raises the hairs on the back my neck...